Since Sinclair owns a local station here in Wisconsin, I have been giving ROH a shot. Not being versed in the history, save for Wikipedia etc, I am stunned by the utter lack of storyline, awful promos (except the Briscoes), and. terrible production value. This is not a slight at the talent. These folks can all get it done in the ring. What is truly frustrating is that the in ring action is really fun and everything else just seemed lackluster and thrown together. It may be just the way the show appears on TV. Is it different live? I look at CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Daniel Bryan as examples of what Ring of Honor does well. Jim Cornette's shoots/commentaries are great, but his on air persona seems timid. I'm a throwback to the territory days and ROH has the TV production of the UWF. What can be done?

Cornette and Kevin Steen are playing out the GM vs. wrestler angle, except Steen is the hot tweener, and Cornette is the old-school promoter protecting the health of his employees. Steen is hugely over as a wise-ass lone wolf in garbage matches.

The House of Truth (full heels) and The Briscoes (tweeners) are fighting to teh death over pride and money.

Shelton/Haas recently went heel, switching places with the Bricoes, and are fending off the younger high-flying teams.

The undefeated Chiampa is chasing Jay Lethal's TV title.

They backstage material does look cheap, and not everyone is good on the mic. The Briscoes are helped here by having their gimmick down cold. I kinda like the old-school promos where they address certain matches as upcoming venues. That's exactly like the Mid-Atlantic TV shows I grew up on.

But the show and promotion emphasizes the ringwork, and the only weakness here is the shoddy camerawork. We often miss momentum transitions because the camera is watching some ringside conflict. Still, at least one match each week is a contender for match of the week for all the televised wrestling shows, and ROH is a haven for tag teams.

Originally posted by LakeEffectSince Sinclair owns a local station here in Wisconsin, I have been giving ROH a shot. Not being versed in the history, save for Wikipedia etc, I am stunned by the utter lack of storyline, awful promos (except the Briscoes), and. terrible production value. This is not a slight at the talent. These folks can all get it done in the ring. What is truly frustrating is that the in ring action is really fun and everything else just seemed lackluster and thrown together. It may be just the way the show appears on TV. Is it different live? I look at CM Punk, Samoa Joe, and Daniel Bryan as examples of what Ring of Honor does well. Jim Cornette's shoots/commentaries are great, but his on air persona seems timid. I'm a throwback to the territory days and ROH has the TV production of the UWF. What can be done?

I haven't seen the show in a couple of years, but I've watched a lot of the early days on DVD. Seems to me they currently suffer the same problems ECW did in later years. Their roster is utterly drained. No Danielson, no Joe, no Punk, no Nigel (wrestling anyway). So the guys they have left are the guys that WWE and TNA had zero interest in. Hard to build a promotion on that.

Also, they seem timid about using the guys that they do get back. Homicide was a world champ and now he's floating around the midcard from what I understand.

I wouldn't give up on ROH yet, just because a lot of guys have left. This happened before and was never a real problem in the end.

This weeks episode, by the way, was pretty great as a whole: Jay Lethal vs. Kenny King, Kevin Steen vs. Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reiley vs. Michael Elgin. You really should check it out (if you're not a ringside member, it's on Dailymotion as well)!

I love watching ROH - they have more content in one hour than TNA does in two hours some weeks.

The Briscoes, the Bravado Brothers, the WGTT - all make the show. Haas and Benjamin have mean streaks I'd never seen before - and I can't get enough.

The production values aren't really good - but who cares? If I want high gloss sports entertainment, I'll watch WWE or TNA. I'd rather call the ROH product raw, as opposed to having low production values. The talent is solid, and they work really hard, and that's all that matters in the long run.

ROH is the only wrestling show I watch anymore. I like the old school territory feel to it. Hell I grew up on old Mid South and Memphis area shows. They feel more real and the storylines seem to have a payoff.